Ahh, so we're finally here. The Episode IV of the Lensmen saga. Where it all began before they added some unnessecary prequels. And yes, we've skipped ahead a generation (or more). So we begin with a Lensmen Academy, and it's greatest student is one Kimball Kinnison. Almost immediately upon exit from the Academy he is made a Grey Lensmen, also called "Unattached," because a Grey Lensmen takes orders from no one, has an unlimited budget, and is simply trusted to do good with that power. This is basically how I think of Agent Zero, for what it's worth.

Anyway, Kinnison is tracking down Thionite, the most dangerous drug in the galaxy (beatiful women are often referred to as "thionite dream"s) and the zwilniks who peddle it. The Thionite leads to the evil Boskonian pirate society, and the book ends abruptly when the man behind it all (or so we think!) takes a few in the chest. To wit:
Then Helmuth; and as the fierce-driven metal slugs tore in their multitudes through his armor and through and through his body, riddling his every vital organ, that was THE END
Hard-boiled space murder. Yes! All this, plus we meet Nurse MacDougall, AKA Mac, the hot-headed nurse who is the genetically destined match for Kinnison. Their much ballyhooed union will, I feel certain, produce the Civilization saving Super-Lensman who probably stars in Book 6, Children of the Lens. Anyway, Mac's doctor boss has a bothersome tendency to go on and on about how great the couple's bones are. Apparently they've got great bones. "She qualifies - with that skeleton she has to!"

Good times here on Tellus.